


Doorway

by a_bit_of_foolish_hope



Category: Good Mythical Morning, Rhett and Link, rhink - Fandom
Genre: Don't go in expecting a happy ending, description of gore, zombie!au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-09
Updated: 2017-10-09
Packaged: 2019-01-11 00:43:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12311265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_bit_of_foolish_hope/pseuds/a_bit_of_foolish_hope
Summary: "I'd die for you."A Rhink halloween special.





	Doorway

Link ran through the door, slamming it shut behind him and bracing it immediately with his back. Leaning against the cold wood gave him a single, precious moment of rest before his muscles tensed against the pounding that came from the other side. He allowed himself one small whimper of fear before forcing himself to be silent. The monsters had a short memory. As long as they didn’t hear or see him after a few minutes they would leave. That was what Rhett had taught him, right?

Clenching his shotgun tightly in his hands, Link tried to steady his mind even as his body rocked from the repeated impacts. At least two dozen fists and feet pounded from outside against the door and walls and…windows! Shit! He hadn’t checked for windows. Without moving from his spot, Link whipped his head left and right looking for any unprotected glass that the creatures might be able to climb in through. To his relief, he found every window in eyeshot securely boarded. Whoever had lived here before was smart. Smart enough to secure the windows anyway.

A particularly loud bang from behind caused Link to flinch, but the door didn’t crack. It seemed he’d chosen his sanctuary well. Rhett would have been proud. Would have been…

 _I’d die for you._ Rhett had said those words so many times before the outbreak. On camera and off, Rhett reminded Link again and again of his devotion, almost as if he was afraid Link would forget. As if he could forget a bond as strong as their friendship. There was nothing stronger. The past eight months had proved that much.

From what he could tell from his position in the entryway, the home Link had chosen to hide in seemed abandoned. Usually there were obvious signs of squatters if these places were occupied. A mattress in the living room. Supplies stockpiled in a single, accessible corner. An angry guard pointing a gun in your face and asking what the hell you’re doing here. This place lacked all of that. It did have an odor though. The smell of shit, piss, and death was almost overwhelming, but Link was used to that by now. After seeing so many people killed in front of him it was practically the standard.

 _I’ll die for you_. Link had never assumed the words were empty, but he certainly didn’t think Rhett would be so eager to fulfill them. Maybe he’d felt guilty, felt his sacrifice was necessary. It wan’t Rhett’s fault that the can had fallen. He’d grabbed one too many from the shelf as they frantically threw supplies into their tattered backpacks. It could have happened to anyone. In fact, Link was amazed it wasn’t him who had made a loud noise and attracted the attention of the Biters. It would have made more sense. He was the clumsy one after all. Besides, how could they have known there was a horde nearby? They’d done all their normal checks and everything came up clean. It was an accident, that’s all. Rhett wasn’t to blame.

The sound of rotting bodies clambering to get through the doorway began to die down. Just as he’d hoped, the Biters were losing their interest. Now they were off to find new prey somewhere. Off to destroy someone else’s family. To take way someone else’s reason to live.

Link had been sure losing his family was what would break him. It _had_ broken him, but Rhett hadn’t allowed him to fall apart. “Stay busy,” he’d said. “As long as you keep planning, you can keep moving forward. Count the food and ration it in your head. Memorize every street and building that you pass. Figure out what it’s going to take to survive one more day, one more hour, one more minute. Never, ever give up.”

Never give up, huh? The words seemed empty when Rhett had gone and done just that. They could have run together. Sure the horde was big, but they’d outrun big groups before. Link had thought for one foolish moment that Rhett might have had a plan to split up and meet a few streets down. It was only when Rhett tossed Link his backpack of supplies that Link realized Rhett had no intention of getting out of there alive.

Damn it. God _damnit_.

The noise outside continued to dwindle. Finally, after maybe five or so minutes, there was only one persistent Biter left. A single hand ran its nails down the bottom quarter of the door in regular, patient intervals. _Skraaaaack. Skcraaaack_. Link listened carefully to the rhythm. It was low to the ground which probably meant it had at least one leg missing. The thing would be easy to take out as long as Link did so quietly. With a deep breath, Link brushed back the sweaty strands of black hair that hung in his eyes and turned around.

Part of him knew what he would see when he opened the door. No, ‘knew’ wasn’t the proper term. As the blood rushed from his head and his breathing halted, he realized ‘feared’ was a far better descriptor. ‘Knew’ implied that he would be prepared on some level. He was not.

Half of a corpse lay on the ground in front of him. A sickly green-white face stared up at him, its blond hair and beard matted with blood and gore. Halfway down its back the body just ceased to be. A trail of innards and a few vertebrate peaking out from beneath a tattered shirt were all that remained of the bottom half that was…what? Torn off rotting somewhere? Devoured? Maybe a bit of both?

At the sight of living, breathing prey, the Biter wriggled and tried to use its gnawed-at arms to haul itself forward. Link only had to take a half step back to avoid its grasp.

Even if he hadn’t lost his glasses weeks ago, his vision would still be blurred. Tears filled Link’s eyes, making it difficult to see anything more than an amorphous blob of color on the floor. Good. It was better that way. He didn’t want to watch himself do this.

“I never wanted you to die for me, brother,” Link said quietly. He turned his gun around so that the buttstock faced forward and raised it above his head. “Why couldn’t you live for me instead?”


End file.
